Edwardsville Falls to DeSmet in Regular Season Finale 30-15

The Tigers battled hard but lost 30-15 at Suntrup Field, ending the season with a 4-5 record and awaiting playoff decisions.

Colin Feeney, Contributing Sports Writer

Oct 25, 2025 7:19 AM Oct 25, 2025 7:50 AM

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CREVE COEUR, MO. – Edwardsville played hard against a talented DeSmet squad on Friday night, Oct. 24, 2025, in its regular season finale, but lost 30-15 to the Spartans at Suntrup Field in Creve Coeur, MO.

The Tigers conclude the regular season at 4-5, the team’s first sub-.500 season since 2010, and now await their playoff fate. The pairings for all eight classes will be announced Saturday evening, and there’s still a possibility the Tigers could be in the postseason

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Many Edwardsville players stepped up to fill roles for injured teammates in the contest.

“Our philosophy’s always been the next guy,” said Edwardsville head coach Kelsey Pickering. “So, we won’t dwell on that piece. Sure, did it take some things away? We’ve got enough guys where we could accomplish some things, but there were some other things going on tonight that impacted the game.”

DeSmet’s offense is one that’s diversified greatly, and can beat an opponent in many different ways. The Spartans used their offensive weapons to great effect on the night, especially a number of big plays.

“It makes you play sound defense,” Pickering said. “Like, that’s the big part. It makes you play sound defense, and when you have a small area, they turned it into big plays. I don’t know how many big plays tonight. It seemed like they had eight, 10 chunk yardage plays. And when you have those, you have those explosive plays, it changes games quickly.”

The Tigers' offense did move the ball effectively against the DeSmet defense, and had some opportunities, but were turned away by the Spartans.

“Our offense is doing a great job, they really are,” Pickering said. “Our offense did a good job tonight.”

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The Tigers now wait to see if their record and playoff points results will be good enough to qualify for the postseason for the 14th consecutive season, not including the COVID year of 2020.

“It’s what we talked to the guys about,” Pickering said. “The whole piece of let’s control what we can control. Let’s control our future, and we knew coming in and getting a win, we would control that piece, we knew we were in. So now, we have to sit back and depend on some others to get wins or get losses so we can get in. But we know there’s a path that can get us in the playoffs.”

The Spartans took the opening kickoff and marched down the field, scoring on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Gabe Rodriguez to Ridge Jones to take an early 700 lead. The Tigers took their first possession and got a 34-yard field goal from Hunter Lading to cut the lead to 7-3.

The Tigers took their only lead of the night on the next possession, as Hill-Lomax ran in from four yards away, but missed the conversion on a two-point run, and Edwardsville led 9-7. The Spartans came right back when Rodriguez threw nine yards to Cam Sharp to give DeSmet the lead at 14-9.

DeSmet got the ball back on the Edwardsville 34, and it took the Spartans only one play to score, as Jaylen Johnson ran in from 34 yards out to extend the lead to 21-9. Late in the first half, the Spartans went on a 13-play drive that ended with Gaertner kicking a 37-yard field goal, his first of the night. To give DeSmet a 24-9 halftime lead.

The Tigers took the second half kickoff, and went down 73 yards in five plays, climaxing with Rayveon Wallace running in from six yards away, but on the conversion, the snap got away, making the try no good, but Edwardsville was within 24-15.

At the end of the third quarter, Gaertner kicked a 34-yard field goal to up the lead to 27-15, then kicked another field goal in the fourth, from 23 yards, after Williams threw an interception the only turnover of the game, to increase the lead to 30-15, The Spartan defense held the Tigers at bay the rest of the way, getting a key sack, then stopping Edwardsville on a goal-to-go possession, using their ground game to run out the clock and take the 30-15 win.

Edwardsville finished the regular season at 4-5, while DeSmet is now 5-4, and opens their Missouri Class 6 district playoffs against Rockwood Marquette next week, with the time, date, and site to be announced.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.